chip

Etymology 1

From Middle English chip, chippe, from Old English ċipp (“chip; small piece of wood”), from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) –, from Proto-Germanic *kipp- (“to cut; carve; hack; chop”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyb- (“to split; divide; germinate; sprout”). Related to Dutch kip, keep (“notch; nick; score”), Dutch kippen (“to hatch”), German Low German kippen (“to cut; clip; trim; shorten”), German kipfen (“to chop off the tip; snip”), Old Swedish kippa (“to chop”). Compare also chop. The formally similar Old English ċipp, ċypp, ċyp (“a beam; log; stock; post”), from Proto-Germanic *kippaz (“log; beam”), whence Old Saxon kip (“post”), Old High German kipfa, chipfa (“axle, stave”) and Old Norse keppr (“cudgel, club”), ultimately from Latin cippus (“stake; pale; post”), is a different, unrelated word.

noun

1. A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.
   The universe is finished; the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 3
2. A damaged area of a surface where a small piece has been broken off.
   This cup has a chip in it.
3. (games, gambling) A token used in place of cash.
   If the second player does raise three chips, and all the other players drop, the player who opened may stay in by putting three more chips in the pot, for then he will have put in precisely as many chips as the second player. 2002, Albert H. Moorehead, Hoyle′s Rules of Games, page 46
4. (slang, dated) A sovereign (the coin).
5. (electronics) A circuit fabricated in one piece on a small, thin substrate.
   1986 September 1, Tom Moran, Lisa L. Spiegelman, New Chip Said to Contain Seven PC AT Chip Functions, InfoWorld, page 5, But sources close to the company said the chip contains two direct memory access controllers, two interrupt controllers, a timer, a memory mapper from Texas Instruments, and a Motorola Inc. real-time clock.
6. (electronics) A hybrid device mounted in a substrate, containing electronic circuitry and miniaturised mechanical, chemical and/or biochemical devices.
   2002, Koji Ikuta, Atsushi Takahashi, Kota Ikeda, Shoji Maruo, User-Assembly Fully Integrated Micro Chemical Laboratory Using Biochemical IC Chips for Wearable/Implantable Applications, Yoshinobu Baba, Shuichi Shoji, Albert van den Berg (editors), Micro Total Analysis Systems 2002: Proceedings of the μTAS 2002 Symposium, Volume 1, page 38, Fig. 4(a) shows a schematic design of the micropump chip.
   Fig. 0.3 is an image of the front and back views of a drug delivery microchip made of silicon and painted with gold, with a U.S. dime (10 cents). The chip in the picture consists of 34 nano-sized wells each of which is capable of housing 24 nl (nano liters) of drug. It is possible to make at least 400 wells or even 1000 or more in these chips which are very inexpensive, costing less tham $20 [22, 23]. 2007, Elisabeth S. Papazoglou, Aravind Parthasarathy, Bionanotechnology, page 6
7. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, archaic in Canada, usually in the plural) Standard form of french fry, a fried strip of potato.
   I always say the best way to judge an establishment is by its chips because if you can’t master that, what can you do? July 21 2023, Billie Schwab Dunn, “I Tried Wetherspoons Food for the First Time-I Feared I'd Get Scurvy...”, in Daily Star
   Do you want ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise on your chips?
8. (US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, especially in the plural) A thin, crisp, fried slice of potato, a crisp; occasionally a similar fried slice of another vegetable or dried fruit.
   They made their own potato chips from scratch... He ate a tortilla chip with guac... served with a side of apple chips...
9. (sports) A shot during which the ball travels more predominantly upwards than in a regular shot, as to clear an obstacle.
   Oxlade-Chamberlain saw his attempted chip well blocked by goalkeeper Costanzo at the start of the second half. September 28, 2011, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport
10. (curling) A takeout that hits a rock at an angle.
11. A dried piece of dung, often used as fuel.
12. (New Zealand, northern) A receptacle, usually for strawberries or other fruit.
13. (cooking) A small, near-conical piece of food added in baking.
    chocolate chip
14. A small rectangle of colour printed on coated paper for colour selection and matching. A virtual equivalent in software applications.
15. (nautical) The triangular piece of wood attached to the log line.
16. (historical) Wood or Cuban palm leaf split into slips, or straw plaited in a special manner, for making hats or bonnets.
17. (archaic, derogatory) Anything dried up, withered, or without flavour.
18. (golf) A low shot that travels further along the ground than it does in the air.

Etymology 2

From Middle English chippen, from Old English *ċippian (“to cut; hew”) – attested in Old English forċippian (“to cut off”) –, from Proto-Germanic *kipp- (“to cut; carve; hack; chop”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵey- (“to split; divide; germinate; sprout”). Related to Dutch kippen (“to hatch”), German Low German kippen (“to cut; clip; trim; shorten”), German kipfen (“to chop off the tip; snip”), Old Swedish kippa (“to chop”). Compare also chop.

verb

1. (transitive) To chop or cut into small pieces.
   The workers chipped the dead branches into mulch.
   Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on). 7 February 2015, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8
2. (transitive) To break small pieces from.
   Be careful not to chip the paint.
3. (transitive, sports) To play a shot hitting the ball predominantly upwards rather than forwards. In association football specifically, when the shot is a shot on goal, the opposing goalkeeper may be the direct object of the verb, rather than the ball.
   Koeman identified Southampton’s third as their finest goal of the game. Jack Cork, the most underrated player at a much-lauded club, swept the ball out wide to Tadic, who waited for Cork to run to the back post before chipping the ball across to him to slam in a deserved goal from close range, despite an attempted block by Vito Mannone. 18 October 2014, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian
   Typically when someone scores a stunning goal this early in the season — it’s only Week 2 — it gets forgotten, or at the very least lost in the shuffle after eight more months of worthy GOTY candidates. Not this year, though, because no one is forgetting Amarikwa chipping Adam Kwarasey from 35 yards out and burying the ball in the top corner. 13 March 2016, Andy Edwards, “VIDEO: San Jose’s Quincy Amarikwa chips, goes upper-90 from 35 yards out”, in NBCSports.com
4. (transitive, automotive) to upgrade an engine management system, usually to increase power.
5. (intransitive) To become chipped.
   This varnish chips easily.
6. (intransitive, card games, often with "in") To ante (up).
7. (transitive, informal) To fit (an animal) with a microchip.
8. (UK, transitive, often with "in") To contribute.
   Everyone needs to chip in £1 for George's leaving collection.
9. (also to chip at) To make fun of.
   They chip me about giving that young judy the cross; but I dont care: I stand up to them proper, and tell them that if she hadnt a better right to it than they, she'd be where they are. 1923, George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan

Etymology 3

verb

1. (UK, slang, intransitive) To leave.